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It’s ‘booch harvest day, and three gorgeous bottles of the good stuff are sitting quietly on a shelf on the fermentation station, working their second ferment magic. Sometimes I have to take a step back and marvel at the various ferments in different stages – I am, after all, a microbe farmer (mad scientist?), too.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. After many years of attending holiday events that required multiple hours of travel and eating too much rich food, we no longer “do” a feast for the day. Frankly, we find it much more agreeable to simply have normal meals – the kind we would eat any other day of the year – and maybe, if we’re so inclined, make some holiday-themed dish as a nod to the day. This year, we made a crustless pumpkin pie – with tofu!
Continue reading “Fall Flavors: Crustless Pumpkin Pie (With Tofu)”
Not that kind of bear – a Woolly Bear caterpillar, the larval form of the Isabella Tiger Moth. The fast-moving orange and black fuzzies appear at this time of year, often crossing roadways. Legend has it that they can predict the severity of the coming winter, too!
Refrigerator crisper drawers invite egregious procrastination. They allow unassuming veggies to hide until they’re past the point of no return – soft, soggy, sometimes slimy. Eww. In my efforts to avoid wasting food, I am occasionally horrified at what I find in there: lettuce that appears to be sporting a coating of pinkish ectoplasm, a severely shriveled and rubberized carrot, a desiccated and scraggly scallion…they haunt the crisper drawer and remind me that wasting food is a character flaw. Today, however, I managed to salvage some of the sorriest specimens and turn them into something tasty.
Continue reading “Farm Ferments: Rescued Root Veggie Pickles”
I typically make two quart jars of my favorite kimchi, kkakdugi, at a time. The last time I did, though, the second jar became a bit too fermented (it gets very soft and loses that radish crunchiness I like) for my taste. With a lonely, soon-to-be-rubbery daikon in the crisper drawer, it simply made sense to make a small batch of this spicy probiotic condiment.
Continue reading “Farm Ferments: Just A Small Jar Of Kkakdugi (깍두기 , Korean Radish Kimchi)”
With the cold weather, the lemon balm plants have been looking peaked, so I decided to cut them back. In doing so, I harvested a large amount of leaves that were still green and smelled aromatic. How could I make the lemon balm last? By making some wine I can appreciate at my leisure!